Dhanraj always looked at art from the perspective of a business. Seeing many artists struggling to earn their livelihoods, he founded his venture to enable artists across the country to get fair prices for their artwork by connecting them to the right buyers.

Dharaj Shelke is an artpreneur.

Dhanraj hails from Kolhapur, Maharashtra. He is an MBA.

Dhanraj says that he is pursuing art as a business and not as a hobby. He is looking after his family business of selling paintings and other artwork. He has his own team of twenty-plus artists from across the country who do various artwork like fine art, pottery and ceramic painting, ceramic and metal statue casting, etc. for his fifteen-thousand -plus clients.

Talking about his professional journey, Dhanraj says that during his MBA, he would also learn fine arts after his classes. He would learn from a national-award-winner artist. He says that early on, he had realized that pursuing art as his profession would never be a sustainable career choice for him. He was always taught by his family to look at art as a business and not as a hobby. When he got to look at the plight of artists who were struggling to make a living out of art, he came up with a business plan to connect artists with art appreciators to enable them to sell their artwork at reasonable prices.

Regarding his mistakes, Dhanraj says that instead of investing his time in learning fine arts, he should have started his business early on to be in a better position today.

When asked about his role models, Dhanraj says that his father is his role model.

To artists, his piece of advice is to learn to work smartly and produce their artwork as per the changing market dynamics to be able to thrive as artists.

To people aspiring to pursue fine arts, Dhanraj tells them that there’s a lot of scope in the field of fine arts. One can do graphic designing, and VFX designing, or can work at an architectural firm after doing a fine arts course.

To entrepreneurs, Dhanraj advises them that instead of just following their passions, they should do something with the help of which they can bring about a change in society and at the same time generate employment for others.

His hobbies include traveling and in his spare time, Dhanraj likes to travel to add to his learning.